Gendered dimensions of environmental health, contaminants and global change in Nunavik, Canada

Ainsi que l’a démontré la littérature universitaire au cours des deux dernières décennies, la pollution est une importante menace potentielle à la santé à court et à long terme des êtres humains et de l’environnement naturel de l’Arctique, de même qu’elle soulève des questions de justice sociale et environnementale. Certaines études ont établi un lien entre des polluants tels que les métaux lourds, les polluants organiques de longue durée et les radionucléides, et l’usage traditionnel des nourritures locales par les peuples autochtones, y compris les Inuit. Ayant, d’une multitude de manières, un impact nuisible sur les communautés inuit, ces polluants représentent l’une des manifestations du changement global à travers le Grand Nord circumpolaire. En prenant pour point d’investigation la communauté d’Inukjuak, Nunavik (nord du Québec), Canada, cet article examine les rôles des femmes et des hommes inuit dans leur participation aux activités de chasse et à l’identification des polluants-contaminants; il démontre comment les hommes et les femmes construisent différemment cette question cruciale des contaminants. L’article examine de plus pourquoi le fait d’inclure les perspectives des deux sexes est essentiel au développement de politiques, de stratégies et de programmes environnementaux efficaces en réponse à ces contaminants.As has been well-documented in the scholarly literature over the last two decades, contaminants pose a potentially significant threat to the short and long-term health of Arctic human and natural environments and raise questions of social and environmental justice. Studies link contaminants such as heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants and radionuclides with the use of traditional country foods by Indigenous peoples including the Inuit. Adversely impacting Inuit communities in a myriad of ways, contaminants represent one manifestation of global change across the circumpolar North. Focusing on the community of Inukjuak, Nunavik (Northern Québec), Canada, this paper investigates the roles of Inuit women and men vis-à-vis participation in hunting activities and the identification of contaminants, and demonstrates how women and men construct the lead contaminant issue differently. Additionally, the paper explores why including the perspectives of both is critical to the development of effective environmental health policies, programs and strategies in response to these contaminants

Climate change effects on human health in a gender perspective: some trends in Arctic research

Background: Climate change and environmental pollution have become pressing concerns for the peoples in the Arctic region. Some researchers link climate change, transformations of living conditions and human health. A number of studies have also provided data on differentiating effects of climate change on women's and men's well-being and health. Objective: To show how the issues of climate and environment change, human health and gender are addressed in current research in the Arctic. The main purpose of this article is not to give a full review but to draw attention to the gaps in knowledge and challenges in the Arctic research trends on climate change, human health and gender. Methods: A broad literature search was undertaken using a variety of sources from natural, medical, social science and humanities. The focus was on the keywords. Results: Despite the evidence provided by many researchers on differentiating effects of climate change on well-being and health of women and men, gender perspective remains of marginal interest in climate change, environmental and health studies. At the same time, social sciences and humanities, and gender studies in particular, show little interest towards climate change impacts on human health in the Arctic. As a result, we still observe the division of labour between disciplines, the disciplinary-bound pictures of human development in the Arctic and terminology confusion. Conclusion: Efforts to bring in a gender perspective in the Arctic research will be successful only when different disciplines would work together. Multidisciplinary research is a way to challenge academic/disciplinary homogeneity and their boundaries, to take advantage of the diversity of approaches and methods in production of new integrated knowledge. Cooperation and dialogue across disciplines will help to develop adequate indicators for monitoring human health and elaborating efficient policies and strategies to the benefit of both women and men in the Arctic